Nutella-Hazelnut Cookies

I’m not sure if you’ve noticed it or not, but there is a serious lack of recipes that include Nutella on this site. Maybe it’s never something you thought about, or maybe you’ve been asking yourself why in the world I don’t have any Nutella recipes. Well, it almost shames my foodie heart to tell you that up until very recently (read: last week) I really wasn’t sure I even liked Nutella. I felt very ambivalent about it. I could take it or leave it, and honestly couldn’t understand what all the hubbub was about. Sure, I had tried it once or twice, and it was okay, but I guess I just didn’t get it. Heck, even my 91-year-old Grandma was on the Nutella train last year. It was a staple of her diet – every morning, on a piece of toast, with a layer of peanut butter underneath. She was clearly more hip than her food blogger granddaughter. These cookies, however, may be a game-changer for me. As in, I could have eaten the entire batch in one sitting without looking back. They have a fudge-like texture and the flavor is the most amazing combination of chocolate and nutty. Throw in some sugar, espresso powder and more chopped nuts, and you have Nutella cookie nirvana.

It’s a good thing that my Chief Culinary Consultant’s dad’s birthday rolled around or I might still be mucking it up in “I don’t think I like Nutella” land. He looooooves hazelnuts and is a big fan of Nutella, so when I ran across these cookies in a magazine a couple of months ago I doggy-eared the page with a note to make them for his birthday. Last week I made them happen in my kitchen and after packing up a box of them to ship down to Florida for his birthday, I took my first bite of one of the leftovers. And I was in heaven. The remaining leftovers were polished off before bedtime. Now I know why my Chief Culinary Consultant was enamored with the Nutella and strawberry/banana crepes when we’d order from Crepes-a-Go-Go.

I was so wrapped up in Super Bowl prep last week that I didn’t even realize World Nutella Day was this past Sunday. Perhaps it was divine intervention that I had my eyes opened to Nutella just a few days before. In celebration of the holiday and of my new-found affinity for it, tell me – do you love Nutella? Are you indifferent? If you do, what’s your favorite way to eat it?

Directions:

1. Combine the flour, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl; set aside. With an electric mixer on medium-high speed, beat the Nutella, butter, and granulated sugar until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add the eggs, vanilla, and espresso powder and mix until incorporated. Reduce the speed to low and alternate additions of flour mixture and milk, starting and ending with the flour, and mixing until just combined after each addition. Fold in ½ cup of the hazelnuts. Refrigerate the dough until firm, at least 2 hours and up to 24 hours.

2. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper. Place the remaining hazelnuts and the powdered sugar in two separate bowls. Using a medium cookie scoop (or about 2 tablespoonfuls), roll the dough into balls, roll in the hazelnuts, then roll in the powdered sugar. Place the balls 2 inches apart on the baking sheets. Bake until the edges are set and the middle still looks a tad soft, about 10 minutes. Cool for 5 minutes on the baking sheet, and then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Store cookies in an airtight container at room temperature.

I’m italian and I think I don’t like Nutella. Shame on me! Maybe it’s beacuse two or three years ago I used to eat half a jar a day, on its own. Or maybe it’s because it’s too sweet. But i’m not too keen on Nutella. Definitely not

OMG, I love Nutella, in every way or form! Here (in Europe), kids have it all the time during the winter: as snacks, lunch, dinner, you name it. I don’t go that far with my son, but I wouldn’t mind having grown up like that!

Hi Christine, I usually wrap each cookie individually with plastic wrap, then wrap a bundle of them together in plastic wrap, put in a cookie box, wrap with bubble wrap, then put that box inside a slightly larger shipping box.

I have an unhealthy obsession with Nutella, these cookies look amazing! Whenever I allow myself to buy it, it’s usually gone in just a few days, mostly eaten by the spoonful, and sometimes spread on a chocolate rice cake or toast.

I’m like you, not a fan of nutella. I think it’s the hazzelnut. I love all nuts, but hazzelnut, I think it’s the smell? Weird huh? I can’t stand hazzlenut coffee or cream, blah! But your recipe looks yummy!! I do have a jar of it thats has been hidden in the cupboard forever, so I think I’ll try them in your recipe, you haven’t steered my wrong yet!

If you don’t like Nutella, you may want to have a psych evaluation. The stuff is amazing!! There is also a dearth of recipes including my new favorite spread: Biscoff. It’s definitely sweet, but not chocolatey. This cookie looks great, I’m excited to try it!

You described me there: indifferent, not a fan, etc. I’d never give that to my kids for breakfast (like the commercials suggest)! lol I did buy a jar tho when my daughter was coming for a visit from Scotland. She said she loved the stuff. The jar sat unopened in our pantry for the full 4 month visit, despite my reminding her it was there..lol However, putting it in a cookie recipe might change my mind..I love hazelnuts and chocolate, gooey cookies, espresso flavor..it all sounds like perfection to me. I can’t wait to try these. I’m sure I’ll have no trouble eating every single cookie. I’ll hold myself back and let hubby have one or two tho 😉 Maybe.

I used to think that my favourite way to eat Nutella was on a toasted slice (or two) of homemade bread. Now I’m thinking that these cookies are going to be my favourite way to eat Nutella. Your Chief Culinary Consultant just may do cartwheels when he sees these. They are gorgeous!

I love Nutella! When I lived in Australia you could buy little packets of Nutella with crackers. I like my Nutella in vanilla ice cream and on biscotti. My boyfriend makes Nutella and jelly sandwiches. But we both enjoy going to the Market District at Settlers Ridge for the fresh crepes with Nutella and fruit!

I am ambivalent about Nutella also. It just doesn’t do it for me on its own. But this past Christmas I made a big batch of Peanut Butter Blossoms, and then decided why not try making the Blossoms with Nutella in place of the PB? Turned out delicious, crunchy but chewy, if you know what I mean. I am making these cookies for sure this weekend, but I will omit the nuts — I just don’t like nuts in my baked goods. But will follow the rest of the recipe exactly. Can’t wait to try them!

Hi Michelle! I love reading your blog every day for both the yummy food and for all things Pittsburgh (go Pens!) since I am now living far from home in New Hampshire. I am SO excited to be going to the Pillsbury Bake-Off finals in Orlando in March (yay!), and thought I would share my recipe with you since Nutella is a main ingredient! They are the Chocolate Hazelnut Coconut Bars found on the Pillsbury website. They have a coconut cheese-cakey center and a Nutella crust – they might be right up your alley. 🙂 Thanks for the great blog, it’s one of the first things I sit down and read when I get home from work each day.

Sounds like fate…and a great looking cookie! I love Nutella but my policy with it is pretty much the same as my policy with peanut butter which is – why use it as an ingredient in something else when I’d much rather sit there with the jar and a big spoon. That’s also why I don’t keep either of those things in the house lest I not be able to get back up again 🙂

Nutella, there ir something about Nutella that makes people like it so much. I like it but honestly it’s not something that I can die for, my son and my husband can’t live without it and my little girl…well, she hates it.

i LOVE nutella! THe first time i had it was when i was a a friends house and we were eating lunch and she brought it out and i was like “chocolate? for lunch?YEAH BABY” and it WAS BETTER THAN CHOCOLATE. only 2 types of people say that. crazy people, or NUTELLA people! 🙂 i love nutella! these look amazing!!!

Yum, yum, yum! I purposely don’t buy Nutella because I know if I did I would get a spoon and proceed to eat the entire thing at once. But I might have to made an exception to make these cookies. Except that I would probably make a batch and eat all the cookies at once!

Man, those look amazing. I have never really understood the whole Nutella-Love either. I like it a lot, and have bought it and used it but I don’t have it in the house all the time. I have a friend whose husband is actually from Italy and has to have a jar in the house at all times but she isn’t all that thrilled with it either.

Here in NJ, they sell it on TV in a Shop Rite commercial where they suggest giving it to your children as breakfast on toast. Isn’t it filled with sugar? I find that kind of offensive. I can see as dessert or for baking but for a “healthy” breakfast??? I question the ethics of that. Anyway, I do like it and I would make these, altho’ my son is allergic to most nuts (just had that tested recently). I don’t normally have nut-filled things in the house.

I am wandering around your site because of the salted chocolate shortbread cookies – which were seriously amazing. My sister loves some nutella….might love these cookies. But isn’t Nutella Hazelnut an oxymoron? Like saying Peanut and peanut butter cookie?

These sound amazing and am planning on making them for a friend of mine this weekend. BUT…..how do you measure the Nutella??? I know it sounds silly but I can’t get my head around it so it is accurate! Help!

I don’t ever let Nutella in my house … except for this site I’m pretty much Paleo. Sigh. But I did get all the ingredients; even had to order the nuts online. All set to go, but could you please tell me at what temperature and for how long you toasted the nuts? I’ll be making these to give away, but will certainly try one or two and let you know how wonderful they are! Thanks

Just made a batch of these for my friend’s birthday (literally, the cookies are still warm) and they turned out even better then I expected which is saying a lot because they looked so good to begin with. Definitely happy with these and will be making them again! Thanks for the great recipe 🙂

Hi there, I noticed you said you weighed the nutella, you don’t have the weighed measurements written down do you? Or could direct me to a good conversion site? Really want to make these but I’m in Australia so different cup sizes etc! Thanks!

Hi Julia, I just used the weight from the back of the container where the serving size information is and calculated it from that. I just checked the package label – for the 1-1/4 cups of Nutella it would be 370 grams.

My son and I made these yesterday..oh heaven! I was a little bit miffed that I couldn’t find any instant espresso powder and had to end up using some instant coffee instead, but they still turned out great!

I just made the cookies, but for some reason, mine weren’t as dark as the one shown in your picture or as flat. I followed your recipe and rolled the dough into balls, but for some reason it didn’t come out as flat. Please advise.

Hi Candice, A meat thermometer won’t work, but you can find an oven thermometer pretty much anywhere. I just bought one at a Publix grocery store in Florida (a lot of grocery stores now have an aisle or part of an aisle with kitchen/baking supplies). You can also find them at places like Target, Wal-Mart, Bed Bath & Beyond, etc. They are typically around $5.

Sorry Michelle, I have another question. I’m a newbie to baking so please bare with me.

The cookies looks like they should be crunchy from your cookie, however, mine were very doughy in the middle. I know one of the reasons is because the cookies didn’t spread like the ones from your picture. I wanted to find out if the cookies are supposed to be indeed crunchy.

I made these a few days ago. I was in heaven! The cookies were still warm. They were the perfect combination of chewy and crunchy.

I didn’t use the Nutella brand, because I shop at Trader Joe’s and use their brand. Their version is made with almonds instead of hazelnuts. So for this batch, I did use chopped almonds instead of chopped hazelnuts. Next time I will try this with Nutella and hazelnuts and see which one I like better.

I packed one cookie in my son’s lunch box yesterday, and he said that a swarm of kids surrounded him, asking for a piece of his one cookie. He told them that it had almonds in it, in the hopes that it would deter them, but apparently they didn’t care.

Today I brought the rest to work. It made everyone’s day! One person requested a Nutella cream filled cookie. Add that to your list, BEB!

I love Nutella! Having grown up in Europe, it was definitely something we always stocked our shelves with! My favorite way to eat it is on bread or toast with butter underneath and Nutella on top… it’s best when you slather butter on bread fresh out of the toaster, so it melts a little and with the Nutella on top! SOO good! I can’t wait to try these cookies!

Just made these cookies a few days ago and they were just delicious. So surprisingly chewy! I made some without hazelnuts inside (for my son) and didn’t roll them on the outside with additional hazelnuts. They were just great. My 8-yr old just loved them. Thanks for sharing the recipe! : )

Just made these yesterday and they are amazing! I literally can’t stop eating them! Do you have any suggestions for getting the hazelnuts to stick better to the cookies (I ended up with a lot leftover)?

I liked these cookies but for me they were a little too sweet. I left out some sugar and I advise to mix the espresso powder and milk before pouring in the milk, as this will make the taste of the espresso much better. I did not really taste this flavour when I ate the cookie. Also, real vanilla instead of essence would improve the taste much too.. Overall the cookie was really nice! The texture was great and the Nutella played a fabulous role!

I made your cookies today and really really enjoy them! It has currently around 100°F in Vienna (Austria) so I was a bit hesitant to turn on the oven, but I’m glad I did it! We really enjoy them right now and I think our visitors this evening (one of them is a real Nutella-Junky, like me) will love them even more.

I found your recipe about 2-3 months ago and have probably made close to 30 dozen for people at work. They are quite popular, I have another three dozen in the fridge now and another request for them for next week.

A few pointers for those of you about to try baking them:

You need a strong mixer because working with Nutella is pretty demanding, it broke my cheap hand mixer and although my Kitchen Aid does the job it gets whiny too!

Microwave the Nutella to make it easier to work with first, about 20-30 seconds depending on the jar size. This is wisdom passed down my Nutella addicts.

Last… I tried a few different times when baking these because they do not setup like other cookies so it was hard to judge at first. I find 11-12 minutes work best, 15 is far too long as the cookies will get hard. 11-12 minutes make for nice chewy cookies.